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Translator's note: The author has wild imagination, but he fell short in explaining it. I've tried my best and I'm sorry if this whole merging and advancing process doesn't seem very clear.
Fang Xiu studied the perfectly controlled Specter powers for a while, then he took a nap.
Given his physical condition, he actually didn't need to rest at noon; he didn't even need to sleep at night. But now, he had to sleep because he needed to meet Nightmare.
After Fang Xiu fell asleep, he found himself in a dark, damp dungeon with bloodstains everywhere. There were rows of various torture devices. At the deepest part of the dungeon was Nightmare, chained in countless iron chains.
Since this was Fang Xiu's dream, everything moved according to his will. He simply thought Nightmare would prefer this setting. After all, it was a Specter, and it certainly wouldn't like sunny beaches.
Hearing Fang Xiu's footsteps, Nightmare started screaming in terror, and the iron chains rattled loudly.
It looked at Fang Xiu, who was walking slowly toward it, and screamed, "Why are you here again? Taking a nap? You actually take naps? You never used to nap. You monster! To torment me, you sleep twice a day, ahhh!!"
After roaring, Nightmare began to plead. It had pleaded countless times these days. "Fang Xiu, please stop tormenting me. I was wrong. I'll do anything you ask, just don't torture me," Nightmare sobbed, no longer proud.
It hated how indestructible it was, wishing it could just end its own life. It hoped for a disaster that would wipe out everyone in Greenvine City, so it could disappear.
After pleading, Nightmare looked at Fang Xiu with rage and cursed, "I will kill you! Fang Xiu! I will skin you, pull out your tendons, drink your blood!"
Then, it will plead again, "Please, no more torture."
Fang Xiu was used to the state Nightmare was in. After a month of torment, Nightmare had gone mad.
Nightmare wasn't a pure Specter but was transformed by Zhou Qingfeng, so it had a human-like mind. After a month of being tormented by Fang Xiu with the power of pain, Nightmare had gone mad.
Facing the mad Nightmare, Fang Xiu said indifferently, "Nightmare, I'm here to kill you. I can now perfectly control Specters now, so I can completely devour you."
"What?" Nightmare, who was begging on its knees, suddenly stood up with joy. "Why didn't you say so earlier! Hurry, do it!"
At that moment, the space around them started to change dramatically. Everything began to break apart, and colors started to mix chaotically. It was as if someone had blended a palette together.
Eventually, the multitude of colors turned into a deep darkness. The darkness grew and enveloped everything around them. Slowly, the darkness began to erode Nightmare.
Perhaps because Nightmare had its own consciousness, the dark erosion was slow. It took a long time to corrode just the surface.
Seeing this, Nightmare panicked. It continuously attacked its own body, creating many wounds and turning into black smoke that quickly dispersed. It even embraced the darkness willingly, morphing into a giant mouth that devoured the darkness, allowing it to infect itself.
The pain from being devoured made Nightmare scream continuously, but its expression became more and more excited. "I'm finally going to be free!"
In Nightmare's bloodshot eyes, there was a mad desire for death. No one knew what it had endured over the month.
Hours later, Nightmare's body completely dissipated and disappeared forever.
Fang Xiu had perfectly absorbed Nightmare's abilities. Only after controlling Nightmare did he realize how terrifying its potential was.
Fang Xiu thought the horror of Nightmare came from its ability to absorb the fear of the whole world and grow infinitely. However, after truly possessing it, he realized it wasn't the case.
After absorbing the fear of the entire Greenvine City, Nightmare underwent a mysterious transformation, as if breaking some kind of limit, and gained a new trait.
It could break the boundary between illusion and reality. Simply put, it could turn reality into dreams and dreams into real reality.
The reason Nightmare could turn the entire Greenvine City into a Specter Zone was because of this trait. Breaking the boundary between illusion and reality and converting the two was a terrifying ability.
This ability came entirely from Nightmare. It absorbed the fear of Greenvine City and leveled up, undergoing a transformation that gave it a trace of the ability. This trait was like the power of a god!
For example, if someone was surrounded and severely injured, that's a fact. But by using the ability to switch between illusion and reality, they could turn the fact of being severely injured into a false dream, which effectively meant they weren't injured.
They could even turn all attacks into illusions, meaning no one could kill them.
This ability wasn't just limited to defense; it was the same for offense.
One could imagine a fictional power, like being able to destroy everything with a single hit in a dream and turn it into reality. So, in the real world, a casual strike could indeed cause massive destruction.
How terrifying.
Turning all unfavorable conditions into a dream and all favorable conditions into reality—this ability could be considered invincible.
Of course, Nightmare's ability to switch between illusion and reality wasn't that potent. It just touched upon this trait slightly, having a limited ability.
Plus, it couldn't create something out of nothing or turn fantasies into reality; it needed to have a foundation.
If it was surrounded and severely injured, then using the illusion-reality switch, it could only transform part of the reality, turning severe injuries into minor ones. This would also consume a significant amount of power.
Nevertheless, this ability was still miraculous.
Most importantly, Fang Xiu discovered that this ability to switch between illusion and reality had completely integrated with his Spiritual Energy, merging into one and seeming to undergo some magical change.
He slowly exited the dream and returned to reality.
After devouring Nightmare, he had gained the ability to control dreams and absorb fear.
He was essentially a replica of Nightmare, except he couldn't achieve the same immortality. After all, Nightmare was immortal because it lacked a physical body and could live in others' dreams.
Fang Xiu had a physical body. Unless he completely abandoned his body and became an entity like Nightmare, he wouldn't achieve immortality.
When Fang Xiu woke up, he took out a scalpel and slashed his arm fiercely. A neat wound over twenty centimeters long appeared, and blood gushed out.
Under the effect of his strong physique, the wound began to clot slowly. Because the wound was larger this time, it took longer to heal.
Fang Xiu didn't wait for his body to heal on its own. Instead, he activated his ability to absorb pain, taking in all the pain from his arm.
After absorbing the pain, something shocking happened.
The wound on Fang Xiu's arm healed instantly, even faster than natural healing, as if the injury had been just an illusion.
A hint of surprise flashed in Fang Xiu's eyes. 'The ability to switch between illusion and reality, combined with my ability to absorb pain, works like magic.'